


5 Times MJ Made a Friend (+1 Time She Wanted More)

by juurensha



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Academic Decathelon, Crushes, Developing Friendships, F/M, Female Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Michelle is just observant okay, Peter is terrible at keeping secrets, Teen Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 14:24:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11579880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juurensha/pseuds/juurensha
Summary: It’s hard moving to a new school, but maybe hanging out with a bunch of nerds is exactly what MJ needs. Also, she tells Spiderman to call her MJ because really, who does Peter think he’s kidding?





	5 Times MJ Made a Friend (+1 Time She Wanted More)

**Author's Note:**

> So this is kind of my YA try, and I hope you enjoy it! (I also just kind of assumed that MJ knows about Peter being Spiderman because really, could Ned and Peter talk any louder about it at school.)

  1. Liz Allan



“What are you reading?”

Inwardly, MJ groans. She _hates_ that question. Look if her nose is buried in a book, why does no one realize that that means that she’s _reading_ and doesn’t want to be bothered?

Still, bad enough having just got off the waitlist and transferred here without any friends, she doesn’t need _more_ problems, so she flips the book around to show the girl asking her the cover.

“ _Catcher In the Rye,_ ” the girl reads, and MJ prepares for her to say something like “That’s nice,” or “What’s it about?”

(For the record, she has read _Catcher in the Rye_ five times, and she’s still discovering more ideas about what it’s about.)

“Neat, have you read _The Bell Jar_ too?” the girl asks with a smile.

“Um, duh,” MJ says, slightly taken aback.

(Okay, so Midtown School of Science and Technology had much better read students than her old school, good to know.

She thought they’d all be tech geeks here.)

“You should read _Of Human Bondage_ by W. Somerset Maugham next,” the girl says, “Holden’s summer book.”

“Really? It’s a real book?” MJ asks excitedly, before schooling her face into a more neutral expression, “I mean, I knew that. Sounds cool; I’ll add it to my list.”

The girl laughs, “I’m Liz, by the way,” she says, sticking out her hand.

“Michelle,” MJ replies, shaking Liz’s hand.

(They just met; she’s not going to tell her to call her MJ.

That’s just for friends.)

“Michelle,” Liz repeats, sitting down across from her, “How would you like to join the Academic Decathlon team?”

“What?” MJ asks, sitting back and staring at Liz.

“Academic Decathlon; it’s kind of like Jeopardy, except there’s also some multiple-choice tests—”

“I know what it is,” MJ cuts in before Liz could launch into her spiel (her old school hadn’t had a team, but one of her neighbors had been in one. He was a pain whenever Jeopardy came on.), “But why do you want me?”

“Well, you like reading right? And we don’t have a literature expert,” Liz explains, laying her hands flat on the table, “Me, Abe, and Peter have been covering for it, but really Abe is better off at social science, I’ve got economics, and Peter’s been going through a rough patch, so maybe you’d like to step in?”

(She doesn’t have any other extracurriculars since she just got here. All of the other clubs had either looked boring or so full of people it made her skin crawl.

And basically, they just wanted her to read one book really well right? And answer questions and be a know-it-all?

She’s got that down.)

“Sure,” MJ replies with a shrug, setting her book to the side, “Why not?”

Liz beams at her, “Great! So practice is every Tuesday after-school for like an hour and half; we’ll probably meet more often closer to competition. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” MJ says, standing up and picking up her stuff as the bell rings.

“See you later!” Liz calls out, waving.

She gives a half-hearted wave back and tries to wiggle her face out of the smile that kept creeping onto it.

(Maybe hanging out with a bunch of nerds is just what she needs.)

 

  1. Cindy Moon



It turns out AcaDec requires more reading of some really dull books that she had been avoiding (she doesn’t care what everyone says, Hemingway is a misogynistic jerk who writes the same entitled whiney protagonist over and over again. She’s reading some Octavia Butler after all this as a reward for putting up with all of his bullshit).

It also involves a lot more comforting of worried nerds than she had expected.

“It’s going to be okay,” she says, for lack of anything better to say to a hyperventilating Cindy Moon.

(That’s what they said in all those after-school specials, right?)

“No it’s not!” Cindy wails, “We’re a week away from competition, and Peter just up and leaves for some Stark intern retreat in Germany or something, and now _I_ have to take over all of his science sections besides my own—”

“You got this,” MJ says, putting a hand up (where is Liz? She’s better at this sort of stuff. Dumb school spirit committee stuff probably), “You know all of his chemistry parts anyway. And you’re faster than him at the Super Quiz part. Besides, don’t you have a photographic memory or something?”

 “Or something, but what if I freeze up?” Cindy frets, drumming her fingers against the table, “What if I hit the buzzer and then just blank—”

“That’s Flash, not you,” MJ points out, balancing her chair on its last two legs.

(God, if she had known that Flash was going to be part of the AcaDec team, she’s not sure even Liz’ spiel could have convinced her to join.

He’s such a douche.)

Cindy shakes her head, “But—”

“Look,” MJ says, pulling out her sketchbook and flipping the pages until she finds the sketch she was looking for and showing it to Cindy, “That’s Flash from two days ago. See the sad D face he’s pulling?”

Cindy grins a bit but then frowns, “Yeah, but really, I don’t know—”

“I draw people in crisis. I have at least five sketches of Flash to commemorate times when he’s in despair. Do you know how many I have of you?”

Cindy winces and bites her lip, “Oh boy. I’m not sure I want to see this.”

“None.”

Cindy’s eyes widen, “What?”

“Zero, zilch,” MJ says, drawing her thumb at the edge of her sketchbook and rifling over the pages, “Because you, Cindy Moon, are never in crisis.”

 Cindy smiles before looking down again at the sketchbook, “Wait, how many was that of Peter?”

(Waaaay too many, she knows.

Look, Peter has an interesting face, okay? And he gets into the most amusing disasters.

She can have an aesthetic appreciation for people.

And plus, Peter has definitely been working out or something lately.)

“None of your business; he face-plants a lot,” MJ snaps, stuffing her sketchbook back in her bag, “Anyway, mental breakdown averted?”

“For now,” Cindy says with a rueful grin, pushing her hair back, “Thanks, Michelle.”

“If we have any more of these conversations, you’re going to have to call me MJ,” she says, handing Cindy another practice booklet.

“MJ? That’s cool,” Cindy says, opening the booklet and frowning at the questions there.

“Haven’t given you permission yet,” she says flatly.

(But she probably will soon.)

 

  1. Abe Brown



“What did you get for problem 17?” Abe asks, hitching his backpack higher.

“I don’t memorize the problem numbers like you nerds, Abe,” MJ replies, shutting the door to her locker.

“You’re in AcaDec too; that’s like nerd for life,” Abe reminds her, “And it was the friction problem with the road and the car, I think the right answer was 0.57, but—”

“Oh god, stop talking,” MJ says, putting her hands over her ears, “I hate people discussing questions about tests _right after_ taking the test.”

“Really?” Abe frowns, pushing his glasses up, “Why?

“Because the more I listen to you, the more I know I failed,” MJ says flatly, walking faster down the hall.

“Oh come on, you didn’t fail,” Abe said, jogging to keep up, “ _I’m_ the one who was stuck at school until 7 last night for marching band practice.”

MJ snorts, “You probably got a hundred on that test, don’t lie. Also, I heard Peter quit band?”

Abe nods and sighs, “Yeah, we’re one clarinet short now. That Stark internship is _intense._ ”

(That’s the second club Peter’s quit in a month; she hopes he doesn’t quit anymore.

Stark Industries really should remember that Peter still has to graduate from high school.)

“As long as he doesn’t quit AcaDec; I think Cindy would have an aneurysm,” MJ says.

“If Liz wasn’t distracted by homecoming, she’d probably murder him,” Abe agrees and then grins, “Also, you’d miss being able to make ‘observations’ about him, huh?”

“I make observations about everyone,” she snaps.

“Really? What’s my other club besides band and AcaDec?” Abe asks, crossing his arms.

MJ rolls her eyes, “Chess,” she says, tapping a finger against the club sign as they pass it.

“Okay, but that was easy. What’s my birthday?”

MJ huffs, “I don’t know Peter’s birthday either!”

Abe’s grin grows wider, “Yes you do, you brought in cake that day for practice.”

“My mom made extra! And also, his birthday is on his Facebook!”

(More like, she had asked her mom to help her make some red velvet cake, mumbling that it would be nice to bring something sweet to practice for her teammates.

_All_ of her teammates, not just ones that maybe had a birthday that day.)

“Suuuure,” Abe says, with a knowing glance, “Whatever you want to tell yourself. I’m not going to tell him, but maybe you should talk to him.”

“And say what?”

Abe shrugs, “He likes classic scifi?”

“You want me to talk Ray Bradbury with him,” MJ said flatly, raising an eyebrow, “I’m more on a N.K. Jemisin kick right now.”

“Then talk about that with him,” Abe said, shrugging his backpack off one shoulder and slinging it to his front so he could unzip it and rummage through it.

“But if he doesn’t like her, I can’t ever talk to him again,” MJ says seriously.

(Not really, but it would definitely be a downer.

On the other hand, if anything could break of her constant observation of Peter Parker, maybe it’ll be him not understanding the genius of N.K. Jemisin.)

“It would be a bit of a deal-breaker,” Abe admits, pulling his history homework out of his bag, “But I think Peter would like her stuff.”

“If he has time to read between school, AcaDec, and that internship,” she points out, “And plus, he likes Liz.”

(Who wouldn’t like Liz?)

“True,” Abe said, turning down the hall toward his pre-calc class, “Still, you could at least try to be friends with him? See you, MJ!”

“Didn’t give you permission to call me that,” she yells over her shoulder.

(She doesn’t really mind.)

 

  1. Ned Leeds



“So, Peter ditch you?” she asks, sidling up to Ned and reaching for the pizza.

“Looks like it,” Ned says, mournfully staring at the phone in his hand.

“Couldn’t convince Spiderman to come, huh?” she asks, taking a big bite of the sausage slice she had grabbed.

“Peter really does know Spiderman!” Ned insists, looking up at his phone and staring at her earnestly.

“Relax, I’m not the one you need to convince,” she says, gesturing to over where Flash was still leading the chant of “Penis! Parker!”

(He really couldn’t think of anything else, could he?)

Ned winces, “Oh man. This night can’t get any worse.”

“You say that, and yet nothing is on fire,” MJ says offhandedly, waving a hand around.

“Why is that even an option with you?” Ned wonders out loud.

“Like you and Peter don’t blow stuff up all the time,” she scoffs, “Just last week you guys got some kind of sticky wet goo all over chem lab.”

“You definitely pay way too much attention to him,” Ned says decisively, taking off his hat and looking at it.

“Do not,” she says automatically, grabbing another slice of pizza, “ _Everyone_ noticed you guys at chem lab.”

“Do too,” Ned insists, “You’re the only one who snapped a photo of it!”

(To be fair, it was a pretty funny photo.

She wanted it as reference for a sketch, so sue her.)

Ned sighs, spinning his hat around in his hands, “But anyway, whatever. It’s not like you gave it to the school paper. I really thought this hat would work though. Why does no one like the hat?”

MJ shrugs, “I like it.”

“You do?” Ned asks, eyes wide, “But why does no one else?”

“People do, but it’s not like wearing a cool hat is going to make everyone start magically talking to you. Or attract a ton of girls,” she says, rolling her eyes.

Ned deflates, “I thought it would be a good idea.”

“If you want girls to talk to you, maybe stop with the creepy staring and just talk to them like normal people,” MJ says, grabbing the hat from his hands and sticking it back on his head.

“But what do I talk to them about?” he asks, adjusting his hat.

“Classes. Westworld. AcaDec. Whatever,” she says, slapping his hands away and adjusting the hat so it wasn’t so low on his head (what? Just because she likes dressing like a slob because it’s comfortable doesn’t mean she doesn’t know some style), “Look, there’s Cindy. Talk to her.”

“I don’t know…” Ned says doubtfully, hands still fiddling with the hat, “I should probably figure out how I’m going to get home now that Peter has ditched me—”

“ _I’ll_ give you a ride home, just go talk to Cindy before she gets bored and decides to ghost,” she says, shoving him toward the stairs where Cindy was leaning.

Ned smiles, “You know, you’re not as mean as I thought, Michelle.”

“Wow, that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside,” she says flatly, “By the way, you creep Cindy out, I’m telling Liz. And then I’m telling Spiderman.”

“What? No! And wait, do you know Spiderman too—”

“Bye, have fun!” she chirps, giving him one last shove toward Cindy.

(Everyone in Brooklyn knows that Spiderman will come if you just hang around the neighborhood and watch the rooftops.

And if she’s heard some interesting tidbits from Ned and Peter’s way too loud conversations lately, that’s her business.)

 

  1. Spiderman



She’s at the library, trying to balance ten books under her chin (look, a lot of her holds suddenly came in, alright?), when she sees a flash of red and blue from the corner of her eye, and turns to sees Spiderman frantically waving at her from the window.

She doesn’t think Ms. Watts, the librarian, would like a patron crawling around the walls since she already gave pretty severe looks to kids who ran around in the library, so she quickly checked out her books and stepped out.

“What?” she asks, stuffing her stack of books into some NPR tote-bags.

“Hi!” Spiderman says, sitting back on his heels, “You’re Michelle, right? I heard that—”

“How do you know my name?” she asks, squinting at him.

“What? Well, um, I know everyone’s name! I’m a friendly neighborhood Spiderman after all! Anyway—”

“Really? Then who’s that?” she asks, pointing at the guy across the street walking five dogs.

“Him? That’s Gary, and you should watch out for the Pomeranian; her name is Killer, and boy is she vicious—”

“What about her?” she asks, pointing through the window at Ms. Watts.

“Ms. Watts? She’s scary,” Spiderman said, shuddering slightly, “She’s a demon about late fees. So I—”

“What about them?” she asks, pointing at the couple holding hands and walking down the street.

Spiderman scratched the back of his head awkwardly, “Ummmm…they might be tourists, I don’t think I’ve seen them before?”

“Lame,” she says, crossing her arms.

“Okay, okay, so maybe that was an exaggeration, but anyway! Someone told me that you wanted to see me—”

“Why were you in D.C. anyway?” she asks.

“Um, I was—I was around! Visiting the sights! You know,” he replied, laughing awkwardly.

“You sound pretty familiar,” she says, idly picking some dirt off of her jeans.

“What? No! No, I don’t!” he says, pitching his voice lower (it didn’t help much), “Anyway, Ned said you wanted to see me?”

(Could he make it any more obvious?)

“Yeah. Just wanted to say thanks for saving everyone. At the Washington Monument,” she says, cutting him a break.

She’s betting that underneath that mask, he’s beaming, but either ways, he perks up, standing taller with his shoulders back, “No problem! Glad to help!”

“Maybe next time skip Flash though,” she says thoughtfully, before laughing at the way his eyes whir and get bigger, “I’m kidding! Really, Flash is a jerk, but I don’t want him dead.”

“Does he bother you?” he asks, tilting his head.

She shrugs, “Not as much as he does Peter, and I can handle Flash. Go stop a bike-thief or something.”

“Will do,” he says, mock-saluting her, “See you around, Michelle!”

“Hey, people who save my friends get to call me MJ,” she calls out as he fires off a web.

She thinks he’s grinning based on the way he tilts his head at her, “Got it, MJ!” he says as he swings away.

(It’s a nice view, but jesus, she has a crush on a guy who dresses up like some kind of color-blind spider.

When did her taste get so bad?)

 

(+1. Peter Parker)

“Hey Peter, wait up,” she said, waving him down.

He turns around, “What’s up?”

“You got the math AcaDec practice tests? Flash was complaining that he needs to see them—”

“Yeah, got them here,” Peter says, slinging his backpack around and dragging the binders out, “Why does Flash need to see them?”

She shrugs, “Why does Flash need anything? To make everyone’s life just a tad more difficult.”

Peter laughs, a clear happy sound.

(It should not make her heart leap like something out of a goddamn YA novel—not that she reads those.

Okay, one or two.

Look, even if parts of it were kind of lame, _The Sun Is Also a Star_ was _so_ good.)

“Must be rough, having to sort of be in charge of him now?” he asks with a grin.

She snorts, “Part of the captainship. Plus, if I can handle Mr. Smith rhapsodizing over _A Farewell to Arms_ , I can handle anything.”

“I don’t know, _A Farewell to Arms_ isn’t that bad,” Peter muses.

She points at the door, “You need to leave now,” she says mock-seriously.

Peter holds up his hands, “Oh come on! I read _The Killing Moon_ —well, listened, it was an audiobook—and I really liked that.”

She drops her arm, “You read it? You liked it? Who was your favorite character?”

“I think Nijiri,” Peter says, frowning a bit, “Although the ending was pretty sad.”

“Yeah. I like the second book better,” she admits.

Peter’s eyes widen, “There’s a _sequel?_ ”

She grins, “Yep, _The Shadowed Sun._ And it’s awesome. Nijiri is also in that one, but he’s not the main character.”

“I’ll definitely need to check that out,” Peter says, whipping out his phone and making a note.

“I can’t believe you have time to read—sorry, listen—in between school and the Stark internship,” she says before quickly holding up a hand, “Not that I’m complaining.”

Peter shifts a bit, “Actually, I’m doing something more independent now.”

“Really? Good for you.”

(Tony Stark always looked like a douche anyway.

Although she guesses that Iron Man probably still has eyes on Spiderman somehow, given what happened at the ferry.)

“Thanks!” Peter beams before frowning at his phone, “Have you heard from Liz? I haven’t heard from her in a while.”

“Probably because you ditched her at homecoming,” she said bluntly.

(As much as she likes Peter, Liz had been the first one to reach out to her, and Liz had been pretty upset.

It had been a douche move for Peter not to tell her why he was abandoning her there, but then again she guesses it’s pretty hard to say that by the way, your dad is a super-villain, and I’m running off to go fight him, bye.)

Peter winces, “Yeah,” he admits sadly, still looking down at his phone, “That’s true.”

He looks so sad that she rolls her eyes and pulls out her own phone, “Based on her Instagram, she’s having a blast in Portland,” she says, scrolling through the filtered pictures of food, nature, and friends, “She really likes the donuts.”

Peter cranes his head to look, “Oh, those do look good.”

“Misses the team though,” she says, continuing to scroll, “Apparently the Portland team is not as good as us. And they call it AcaDeca over there.”

“Huh. That’s weird—the AcaDeca part, not the missing us part! Although, I mean, it’s good she misses us—um, or not? But I’m glad she’s doing good,” Peter rambles, “Well.”

“She’ll probably be running her whole school soon,” MJ says with a sigh, “She left big shoes to fill.”

“You can handle anything,” Peter parrots back at her with a grin.

(It’s so good that blushes don’t show up on her skin that easily because she can feel her face warm up.)

“Thanks,” she says gruffly, “But I really do need the math practice tests.”

“Oh, right. Here,” Peter says, digging them out of his bag and handing them to her.

“Thanks; you better be at practice,” she says motioning from her eyes to him, “I’m watching you, Peter.”

He laughs, “Got it! See you at practice, MJ!”

(She’s pretty sure he’s going to run into a pick-pocket or a bike-thief or god forbid another supervillain along the way that’ll either make him late to practice or miss it altogether, because that’s just Peter’s luck.

She doesn’t really mind though. Peter needs to save people, and she both respects and admires that. That’s why she likes him after all. Well, along with the fact that he’s smart, funny, willing to take book recommendations, and is built.

What? Eye-candy is always nice.

She’s still going to pile him with practice tests though.

They’re going to be two-time national champions this year even if she has to knock out Flash or a super-villain herself.)

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, I kind of cheated on having Spiderman and Peter as separate entries, but there weren't too many named classmates of Peter that I thought MJ interacted with, so I had to improvise. I really wanted to work in some Silk references for Cindy Moon, but all I managed was the fact that she's faster than Peter. 
> 
> N.K. Jemisin by the way definitely has lovely books everyone should read. The Dreamblood series is the one mentioned in the fic, but she has others that are also really good. 
> 
> Hope you liked it! Please leave comments/kudos!


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